Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Stock Price

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) had its price objective trimmed by Citigroup from $67.00 to $64.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

IONS has been the subject of several other reports. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.1 %

IONS stock traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $32.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,569,929 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,689,898. The company has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a PE ratio of -10.63 and a beta of 0.34. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $30.23 and a 12 month high of $52.34. The company has a current ratio of 8.91, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm's 50-day moving average is $33.65 and its 200-day moving average is $38.36.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. The business had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 111.15%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.12 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.65, for a total value of $1,229,380.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 180,683 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,718,616.95. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $36.22 per share, for a total transaction of $181,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 35,219 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,275,632.18. This trade represents a 16.55 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 110,609 shares of company stock valued at $3,564,867. Insiders own 2.71% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ionis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IONS. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company's stock worth $400,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,637,041 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company's stock worth $575,880,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416,781 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,801,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company's stock worth $98,494,000 after acquiring an additional 492,900 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.